Using a newly synthesized gibberellin analog (GA3-AM) and its binding proteins, we developed a novel and efficient chemically induced dimerization (CID) system, that is completely orthogonal to the existing rapamycin-mediated protein dimerization. Combining the two systems should allow applications that were difficult or impossible with only one CID system. By using both chemical inputs (rapamycin and GA3-AM), we designed and synthesized Boolean logic gates in living mammalian cells. These gates produced output signals such as fluorescence and membrane ruffling on a timescale of seconds, a significant improvement over previous intracellular logic gates. The use of two orthogonal dimerization systems in the same cell also allows for finer modulation of protein perturbations than is possible with a single dimerizer.
Chemically-inducible dimerization (CID) is a powerful tool that has proved useful in solving numerous problems in cell biology and related fields. In this review, we focus on case studies where CID was able to provide insight into otherwise refractory problems. Of particular interest are the cases of lipid second messengers and small GTPases, where the “signaling paradox” (how a small pool of signaling molecules can generate a large range of responses) can be at least partly explained through results gleaned from CID experiments. We also discuss several recent technical advances that provide improved specificity in CID action, novel CID substrates that allow simultaneous orthogonal manipulation of multiple systems in one cell, and several applications that move beyond the traditional CID technique of moving a protein of interest to a specific spatiotemporal location.
One fascinating recent avenue of study in the field of synthetic biology is the creation of biomolecule-based computers. The main components of a computing device consist of an arithmetic logic unit, the control unit, memory, and the input and output devices. Boolean logic gates are at the core of the operational machinery of these parts, hence to make biocomputers a reality, biomolecular logic gates become a necessity. Indeed, with the advent of more sophisticated biological tools, both nucleic acid- and protein-based logic systems have been generated. These devices function in the context of either test tubes or living cells and yield highly specific outputs given a set of inputs. In this review, we discuss various types of biomolecular logic gates that have been synthesized, with particular emphasis on recent developments that promise increased complexity of logic gate circuitry, improved computational speed, and potential clinical applications.
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